Is there such an obligation now, is it legal, and why is it needed?
The legislation does not define the concept of “work off” - the rules of law disclose only the minimum possible time frame for informing the employer of the intention to terminate the employment relationship.
That is, if an employee wishes to resign, he is obliged to send a notice of his decision to management in advance.
Working off is the period from the moment of filing the paper until the actual date of departure . In this case, the employee may be at work, on sick leave or on vacation.
Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of dismissal before the end of the designated period of notice to management, that is, without working off. However, this is permissible in strictly defined cases or by agreement with the employer.
Workout is intended to resolve issues related to the dismissal of an employee:
- completion of the employee's obligations;
- transfer of cases;
- searching for a replacement for a departing employee;
- checking the workplace, inventory;
- preparation of personnel documentation;
- cash payments.
This period gives the employee the opportunity to finally consider the decision to leave the organization. If a person changes his mind, he has the right to withdraw his application before the official day of dismissal.
Last day of work and settlement with the employee
On the last day of work, the employee must come to the enterprise and sign a work-by-pass form, which is submitted to the HR department upon dismissal. On this day, he is given a Labor Code and wages are paid, as well as vacation pay (if applicable).
This is also important to know:
What is the retention period for the personal files of dismissed employees?
If on the day of dismissal the employee was not at work, then the employer is obliged to make a settlement with him no later than the next working day after the dismissed employee submits demands for settlement.
If the settlement with the employee is not made or is not made in full, the employer becomes financially liable. For late payment of wages, penalties are provided, which are calculated in accordance with Article 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
How long must an employee work?
The deadlines for notifying the employer of your resignation, or the duration of work, are indicated in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation:
- 14 days is the standard period used in most cases (Article 80 of the Labor Code).
- 3 days - while on probation (Article 71 of the Labor Code).
- 3 days - for seasonal employment (Article 296 of the Labor Code).
- 3 days - when concluding a contract for a period of no more than 2 months (Article 292 of the Labor Code).
- 1 month - for the head of the enterprise (Article 280 of the Labor Code).
- 1 month - for coaching staff, athletes with a contract period of more than 4 months. In this case, it is possible to increase the period in the employment contract (Article 348.12).
During the working period, weekends, holidays, vacation and sick leave are counted.
The period may be reduced or canceled by agreement with management or for compelling reasons. In the absence of grounds, work is carried out, despite the period of professional activity at this enterprise.
For example, if an employee decides to quit a month after concluding a standard employment contract, he is obliged to notify management 2 weeks in advance and continue working until the end of this period. If he was on probation, his work would be reduced to 3 days .
Does he have the right not to work for two weeks, can he be forced to?
Employers do not have the right to force an employee who quit to work if the latter:
- decided to take unused vacation this month - that is, the resignation letter was written during the vacation;
- sent management a special form requesting leave with subsequent dismissal;
- went on sick leave - in this way a person can avoid working off work completely or partially;
- has good reasons (drafted into the army, moves to another city, and so on).
In other cases , if you do not want to work the required period, it is recommended to personally agree with management . If the latter disagrees, you will have to continue working until the official date of dismissal.
You should not neglect your work, since missing work days will be considered absenteeism. In this case, you are threatened with dismissal under an article for a disciplinary offense.
The employer does not have the right not to give the work book to an employee for refusing to work . Otherwise, it is possible to go to court with a demand to pay the victim for moral damages. Facts confirming the damage caused may include refusal of a new job, difficult financial situation, and so on.
Submitting an application
Free legal consultation We will answer your question in 5 minutes!
Ask a Question
The first step to leaving the organization is for the employee to write a statement. Requirements for its preparation are not established, but there are points that must be included.
Free legal consultation
We will answer your question in 5 minutes!
Ask a Question
This is also important to know:
What punishment is provided for absenteeism?
This applies to the form of notification - you must notify yourself of your desire to resign in writing.
Notification can be:
- give to the director personally;
- leave it in the HR department;
- send by registered mail.
note
In the first 2 cases, it is advisable to draw up an application in 2 copies and give the document only with a note of acceptance. This will help avoid disputes over the timing of work and protect against situations where you have to work extra days.
Drawing up an application
To avoid problems with termination of employment, it is important to draw up the application correctly. There is no set form, but the document must indicate:
- details of the recipient (name of organization or full name/position of manager);
- information about the applicant (full name and position);
- date of registration;
- day of termination of the employment contract (determined by the employee);
- the reason for termination of employment can simply be indicated “at one’s own request.”
According to the law, the petition is not required to indicate a specific reason for leaving the company.
It is written in a formal style, taking into account the requirements of a business letter.
Sample application
A sample application is available
In what cases is this not required by law?
In addition to a personal agreement between the parties, the employee going on vacation and sick leave, the law outlines situations when working off upon dismissal is not required. They are due to the employee’s inability to continue his professional activities (Article 80 of the Labor Code):
- admission to an educational institution;
- retirement;
- violation by the employer of labor law norms - if there are supporting facts, it is advisable to contact the labor inspectorate, prosecutor's office, or court.
Article 80 of the Labor Code leaves the list open, providing for the possibility of other cases when an employee is allowed not to work - for example, when :
- moving to another region;
- conscription into the army;
- disability;
- caring for a relative or child;
- the development of occupational diseases or those associated with acclimatization, and so on.
In the above cases, dismissal is formalized on the day the application is written.
There are no exceptions to the standard procedure for a pregnant woman . When deciding to terminate the employment contract, she can include vacation days in her work. It is also possible to take sick leave with these days counted.
If health problems arise and medical documentation with specified deadlines is presented, the pregnant employee, at her request, is fired without working on the day specified in the application.
Is this period paid or not?
From the moment the resignation letter is submitted to management until the actual date of dismissal, the terms of the agreement concluded between the parties continue to apply.
During this period, a person is considered a full-fledged employee of the organization , therefore his work is paid in full by the employer.
When used while working on vacation, the employee is accrued vacation pay. When going on sick leave, it is also calculated in the standard way, based on earnings for the last two years and length of service.
Citizens with whom the contract was terminated under the article do not receive payments for service.
If an employee refuses to undergo work in the absence of legal grounds and agreements with management, he may be dismissed not of his own free will, but due to absenteeism. In this case, he will not be paid for the waiting period.
Sick leave during the period of service
If during the period allotted for working off, an employee falls ill, this does not affect the extension of this period in any way.
According to the law, the employer must formalize the dismissal and effect it on the day the work period expires, regardless of the fact that he is on sick leave.
He is obliged to pay the employee in full.
Upon expiration of the temporary disability period, the employee must contact the organization and present a sick leave certificate. He will have to be given the necessary documents and make all required payments.
The Law also provides for a resigned person to apply for compensation for sick leave to the organization from which he was dismissed after 30 days from the date of dismissal.
The former employer will be obliged to compensate him for sick leave in the amount of 60% of its usual amount. True, this rule is valid only if within a given thirty-day period the employee was not officially enrolled in the staff of another company. This item is regulated by Federal Law No. 255.
From what point are 14 days counted, do they count calendar days or work days?
The following describes how to calculate the date from which an employee must begin working. According to Art. 14 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the working period is counted according to a standard algorithm - the beginning is the day following the date the employee submitted his resignation letter. That is, when a paper is sent to the manager on December 10, 2019, the calculation is made from December 11, 2019.
Holidays and weekends do not affect the calculation of deadlines. For example, if an employee wrote a statement on Friday, December 13, 2019, the working period begins on Saturday, December 14, 2019.
The calculation is carried out differently if the application is delivered by post. In this situation, the calculation of the working period begins on the next calendar day after its receipt by the employer.
How does the dismissal procedure involve mandatory two-week work?
Having decided to leave his position, the employee must submit a corresponding application to the employer.
Despite the fact that in principle there is no statutory template for such a statement, the document must still include certain mandatory clauses. The first and basic rule is that it must be in writing. Simply coming to the HR department and resigning by submitting a verbal application will not work.
The application must also contain the following mandatory items:
- date of document preparation;
- day of dismissal (indicated by the employee);
- personal signature of the employee;
- basis for filing an application: in this column it is simply written “at one’s own request.”
According to the law, the employee is not required to describe the reason for leaving his position in detail. You can submit your application personally to your manager, write it to the HR department, or send it by mail with notification.
How to quit your job correctly?
The standard procedure for terminating an employment relationship at the initiative of an employee consists of several stages:
- An employee writes a letter of resignation.
- The working period begins counting from the next day after the paper is submitted to management.
- The HR department generates a dismissal order, which must be reviewed by the employee against signature.
- Relevant entries are made in the employee’s personal card and work book.
- On the last day of work, the employee is given work documentation and payments are made. After this, the person is considered fired.
During the service period, the employee has the right to change his decision and withdraw his resignation letter. Cancellation must be made in writing in application form.
In this case, the employer stops all actions related to the procedure for terminating the employment relationship. The only exception is the situation if a citizen has already been invited to replace the employee (in writing), refusal to accept which is unacceptable.
How to write an application, on what date?
There is no approved application form for termination of employment relations at the employee’s initiative, so the paper is drawn up randomly and provided in writing. The document must contain the following points :
- Full name of the head and full name of the organization.
- Full name, division, department, position of the resigning employee.
- Document's name.
- Request to dismiss at your own request with reference to the normative act (Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
- Indication of the day of dismissal.
- Date of writing the application.
- Personal signature of the employee and transcript.
There is no need to describe in detail the reason for dismissal; the wording that the action is carried out on one’s own initiative is sufficient.
The following is a form and sample on how to write a letter of resignation with 2 weeks of work:
You will find the rules, conditions and nuances of voluntary dismissal without work here.
You can submit your application in person or by mail (registered mail with notification). When using the latter delivery method, when filling out the paper, it is not advisable to indicate the date of dismissal, since the countdown of the service period will begin from the day following the date of receipt of the document by the employer.
How to calculate whether holidays and weekends are included?
When calculating the standard working period upon dismissal, which is 14 days, all calendar days are taken into account.
That is, holidays and weekends are not excluded from the period; the number of work shifts falling within this interval is not taken into account. The period is calculated from the next day after the date of submission of the application by the employee.
For example, citizen Smirnov wrote a letter of resignation on December 9, 2019. The working period will begin on December 10, 2019, and the official date of dismissal will be December 23, 2019. On this day, the employee is required to issue a work book and make a payment.
If the 14th day of work falls on a weekend, the end date is the next closest working day.
For example, citizen Ivanova brought a resignation letter to the HR department on December 7, 2019. The working period began for her on December 8, 2019, the last day falls on December 21, 2019. Since this is a day off (Saturday), the official date of dismissal is moved to the next working day, that is, Monday, December 23, 2019.
The procedure for voluntarily dismissal without work can be found here.
In addition to voluntary dismissal, on our website you will find information about dismissal by agreement of the parties.
Features of testing
Contrary to popular belief, the Labor Code does not require service upon dismissal of one's own free will. The document does not contain such a thing as working off. Actual presence at the workplace is provided for a 14-day period, within which the employer must consider the submitted application and issue a dismissal order.
The law does not stipulate how many days you need to work after submitting your application for dismissal. The employee can write any desired date of departure: either in two weeks or in several months. Until the specified date, the employee continues to be on the staff and is not considered dismissed, and therefore must perform his duties on a general basis.
You can end your work in a specific company by agreement with your superiors. If the employer cooperates, the resignation letter can be signed on the same day. The Labor Code provides for this possibility; in this case, voluntary dismissal with 14 days of work will not be required.
If the employer agrees to sign the application immediately, there is a chance to receive documents and calculations from the accounting department on the same day and not come to work from the next day.
According to the Labor Code, working for 2 weeks (Article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 80) is optional in the following cases:
- if the employee’s dismissal is related to retirement;
- if the dismissal is related to the start of studies at an educational institution;
- other reasons why continuation of work is impossible or incompatible with other activities.
This list is not final; in practice, much depends on the relationship between the subordinate and the superior. Typically, an employer does not need to retain an employee who wants to leave the company. Therefore, the following may be recognized as sufficient grounds for instant dismissal at will: moving to another place of residence, transfer of a spouse to work in another city, serious illness, family circumstances, etc.
Maternity leave, pensioners and directors
Directors, retirees, probationers and employees on maternity leave are subject to the amended termination rules.
You can postpone dismissal from maternity leave: the employer cannot dismiss employees on maternity leave on its own initiative.
If the contract is terminated at the employee’s request, it is impossible to call the person back from maternity leave to work.
Pensioners can write a statement the day before dismissal; management does not have the right to refuse them. Service upon leaving work is not required for persons who have reached retirement age.
The director of the company must give one month's notice of his resignation and delegate authority to other persons. Dismissal of employees in other management positions is carried out in accordance with the general procedure. For example, the chief accountant also delegates authority to another person, the documentation is checked and the 14-day period expires.
Persons on a probationary period must notify the employer of their desire to stop working 3 days before severing the employment relationship. There are no other differences from the general rules.
Violation of labor laws
The Labor Code provides for an exception in which employees do not have to work at the company before leaving. This rule begins to work if the company ceases to properly fulfill its obligations to employees in accordance with the Labor Code. An example of such violations is the lack of payment on time, non-payment of wages, refusal to provide leave required by law, refusal to provide sick leave, etc. For this exception to work, written proof of the violation received by the competent authorities is necessary:
- the court's decision;
- conclusion of the Labor Inspectorate;
- decision of the labor dispute commission.
It should be noted that even court decisions are sometimes contradictory. Sometimes the court does not consider an employer’s refusal to fire an employee on a certain date to be illegal, since the violation of labor laws has not been proven.
